by Brown,Dick
“I’ll bet you say that to all the girls,” Cass teased.
“No, just to the special ones. Step up on the table and let’s take a look.”
Cass knew the drill by now. She removed her blouse but wasn’t wearing a bra because she was wrapped from the top of her chest to her belly button. She sat patiently while the nurse took her blood pressure and removed the Ace bandage from around her rib cage.
“Take a deep breath.” Dr. McCombs placed his cold stethoscope just above her breasts, making her nipples stand out. “Again.” On her back this time. It made Cass shiver. “Do you experience any pain taking a deep breath?”
“A little.”
“How about your shoulder?” He gently raised her arm to shoulder level.
Cass winced when he raised it higher. “That’s as high as I can go, doctor,” she said in obvious pain.
“Okay, I won’t torture you anymore this morning. Continue your arm exercise but don’t push it beyond your comfort level. Take your pain medication as you need it. I don’t think you need to come back unless you experience unusual pain or discomfort. Your X-rays look good. You are mending slowly, which is normal. Just don’t get in too big a hurry to start playing tennis again. Your collarbone will take at least eight weeks to completely heal even though you might not feel any pain in your shoulder rotation. Remember, now, take it easy for another two or three weeks. Good to see you again, Margaret. Tell that husband of yours to come see me. It’s been over a year since his last checkup. You ladies have a good day; Debbie will rewrap just your rib cage this time.” Dr. McCombs handed the chart to his nurse as he left the room.
Nurse Debbie wound the Ace bandage around and around until her body was covered from below her breasts to just above her waist. “Is that too tight, Mrs. Helms? We want to be sure it isn’t restricting your breathing.”
“It’s fine, Debbie. Thank you.” Cass dismissed the young nurse and got dressed. “Mom, I don’t think I want to go shopping now—maybe another time.”
“Okay, but you need to get out more, now that you are on the mend.”
Eddie Winthrop was propped against Margaret’s Cadillac when the two women left the doctor’s office. “Good morning, ladies. I hope you got a good report, Cass.”
“Good morning, Eddie, and yes, I did get a good report. You’re still safe—no arm wrestling for a while yet,” Cass said.
“Mrs. Worthington, would you mind if I drove Cass home? I’m handling the case now and just have a couple of details I want to go over with her about the divorce.”
“Not at all. I was just telling Cass she needed to get out more.”
“I’m not ten, Eddie. I don’t need her permission, I can answer for myself. What little details? I gave your clerk all the information that was needed.”
“Nothing serious, just a couple little technicalities. If you’ll just step into my office next door, we can take care of them. And since it’s almost lunchtime, we could have lunch first and then swing by the office afterward. What do you say, Cass?”
Cass shot a chilly look at Margaret. “Sure, why not. See you in a little while, Mom,” she responded sharply.
“Have a nice lunch.” Margaret waved as she entered her car.
“Still up to your high school tricks, Eddie? There couldn’t possibly be any information left out of the divorce petition, right?”
“Okay, you got me. I saw you two go into Doc’s office and thought you might want to have some lunch outside the office for a change.”
“Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Look, you’re going to be a free woman soon, and I would like to get back to the relationship we had. We were close in high school.”
“Come on, Eddie, we were never close. The only relationship we had was your cheating off my paper in Mr. Hollingsworth’s math class our junior year. But I am hungry and will let you buy me lunch. Where should we go?”
“How about El Chico? We used to eat there when we slipped off campus.”
“El Chico is fine,” she said. “We did that once and got caught, remember?”
Eddie shrugged his shoulders and ignored her attitude, “El Chico it is. Let’s take the Mercedes, my present for law-school graduation and my welcome to the firm.” Only four parking spaces away sat his immaculately restored silver 1955 classic Mercedes-Benz 300SL gull-wing.
“Impressive. The divorce business must be pretty good these days?”
“Over fifty percent of marriages in this country end in divorce. And Texas no-fault divorce has the shortest waiting period in the country. But don’t worry—I’m doing yours pro bono.”
“Like hell you are. I’ve already seen the bill. Don’t you ever change? Am I going to have to pay for my own lunch now?”
“Cut the comedy and hop in. Maybe we can take a little spin after we eat.”
Cass ignored that comment and jumped back to avoid the rising door. She slipped into the low-slung sports car without straining her shoulder. The first thing she did before they left the parking space was remove the sling and put it in her purse.
As usual, El Chico’s was crowded for lunch. A glass of wine took the edge off her prickliness while they made small talk waiting on their order. “You know we could make this a regular event. Dinner would be even better. How about it, say Saturday? We could take in a musical at Fair Park and have dinner at The Adolphus for old times’ sake.” Cass moved her hand when he reached across the table.
“You never know when to quit, do you? Look, Eddie, we grew up together, went to the same school all the way from pre-school and kindergarten through high school. And I appreciate you handling my divorce, but we are just friends. That’s all it ever was. It will never be anything else. Can’t you get that through your head and give it a rest?”
“The only thing I understand is that I have loved you all my life. You had to know that. I can’t believe you can still have feelings for that cripple from the other side of the tracks.”
“I don’t know what else to say, Eddie. You will always be a friend. I—”
Eddie held up his hands in surrender, “Okay, okay, I get it. That’s the same thing you said in high school. If you would just give me a chance to be more than a friend, I think you would see things differently. I can give you a great life here in Bois D’Arc with all the amenities of Dallas. I’m a successful lawyer and stand to inherit the best law firm in town. We even get calls from corporate clients in Dallas. At least think about it. I’m not the high school dork you remember.”
“That’s enough Eddie. Drop it. I’m sorry. It wouldn’t work between us. The chemistry just isn’t there. Surely you can see that.”
The waiter arrived with their food. Cass had lost her appetite for her favorite chicken mushroom enchiladas. Their conversation hadn’t affected Eddie’s appetite at all. He devoured his flaming hot beef fajitas. They sat in silence, Eddie wolfing down his fajitas and her lunch only half eaten. She laid her fork down. She wanted to leave.
“Will you please take me home?”
“Just give me a minute to finish this fajita. It’s really good. Aren’t you going to finish your lunch?”
“I’m not hungry anymore. I just want to go home, if you don’t mind.”
Eddie threw down a fifty-dollar bill without waiting for their check and shoved his chair back. “Let’s go then.” He came around in back of Cass’s chair and gently pulled it back like a perfect gentleman.
Chapter 41
Some people never change
Eddie turned in the direction of Silk Stocking Lane, the derogatory name given Park Street by envious townspeople who couldn’t afford to live there. Park Street led to the Worthington’s house in the Hill Top enclave. The silence was thick enough to slice. Just two blocks away from Hill Top Estates, Cass was feeling more secure. Eddie ma
de a quick, hard right turn east on Highway 69.
“Where are you going? This isn’t the way home!”
“I want to show you what we’ve done with the lake house. You won’t recognize the place.”
“Look, Eddie, maybe another time. I’m tired and need to rest a while. My shoulder is beginning to hurt and my pain pills are at the house.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve got pain pills at the lake house. You can rest there.”
“But I don’t want to go to your lake house. Will you please just take me home?”
Sweat beads began to trickle down Eddie’s forehead. “Come on, Cass, be a good sport. Humor me, I just want to show you the lake house improvements.”
Cass sighed. “Okay, but will you please take me home then? I’m really not feeling well.”
A short time later, the classic Mercedes exited onto the road leading to the Blue Water community. In less than a quarter mile, an arched sign over the black wrought-iron gate bearing the Winthrop name came into view. The gate parted when they approached.
“Looks like you’ve added on to it and changed the color scheme,” Cass observed.
“You haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until you get a look at the inside.”
The car rolled to a silent stop on the blacktop driveway. The doors popped up and Eddie helped Cass out of the low-slung car seat. Cass inspected the new landscaping as they approached the front door. When they entered, her eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful interior.
“You weren’t kidding. It doesn’t look like the same house. You must have taken out the wall between the great room and kitchen. It looks so roomy now.”
“Wait until you see the upstairs,” he said with a broad grin then grasped her by the good arm and ushered her up the stairs. “This is the master bedroom suite.” A king-size bed dominated the room. A dressing table was backed by a mirror that extended to the ceiling. A big screen TV was mounted on the wall opposite the bed. He pointed Cass to the bathroom door. “We added fifteen feet to accommodate the huge adjoining bathroom suite. It’s complete with separate walk-in shower, a Jacuzzi, and a custom steam room. Unmatched even by the Adolphus. What do you think now? Worth the ride?”
“Great, now take me home.” Uncomfortable, Cass made an about-face and headed toward the door.
Eddie caught her by the bed and spun her around. “This could be ours. My parents hardly ever come down here anymore.” He forcefully sat her down on the bed.
“Eddie, what are you doing? Just stop it right now. You’re hurting my shoulder. The tour’s over. Take me home right now,” Cass demanded in a much stronger voice. “We can leave right now and I’ll forget this ever happened.”
Eddie stood in front of her, blocking any chance she had of leaving and said, “We’ll leave when I’m good and ready. Eddie’s attitude changed to a more forceful demeanor. “Is Gramps’s little angel upset because she isn’t getting her way? I thought you’d changed when you got married, but you’re the same self-centered bitch you were in high school. Your little cripple dumped you so you went to SMU and trapped Roger. The poor guy was suckered in by your insatiable sex drive and bought you expensive things. But it didn’t work out, did it?”
“Eddie, stop it, you’re scaring me. What do you want from me?”
“I just want you to see what a man I can be. I may have been the class nerd, but I had the biggest cock in the class. Nobody wanted to shower next to me in PE. They were too intimidated.” Eddie dropped his trousers and underwear and displayed his throbbing hard on. “Did the cripple or Roger have anything like this? Be honest. It’s the biggest one you’ve ever seen, right?”
Cass felt trapped. “Eddie, please don’t do this. Listen to me, I’ve just had a miscarriage and haven’t healed yet. Please just take me home.”
“We could’ve had sex in high school, but you always had some excuse. And you let the cripple have his way with you. Well, you don’t have an excuse now and he’s busy working at his little airplane factory. Don’t fight me. I’ll be gentle. You know you want it. You always did, just not with me. Now you’ll know what you’ve been missing.”
“Please don’t do this, Eddie. Please, just take me home,” Cass cried.
“Lie still and you’ll feel what you’ve been missing all these years.” Eddie pulled her slacks and panties off in one swift move. He pried her legs apart and slowly penetrated her. She shrieked in pain, but it didn’t stop him. He was too strong and forced himself completely into her still-tender vagina.
“You bastard,” Cass yelled at him. “You think you’re a man because you have a big cock? What kind of man rapes a sick and defenseless woman?” she screamed at the top of her lungs. His thrusts intensified.
Her shouts grew louder with each thrust. “Eddie, stop, you’re hurting me.” She hit him across the side of his head as hard as she could with her uninjured arm.
Temporarily stunned, he then grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms against the bed’s soft mattress.
“You’re hurting my shoulder! Please let me up and take me home.”
“Scream all you want. Nobody can hear you,” he said as his hips humped that much harder and faster until he came. “There, that’s how a man makes love to his woman,” he boasted. Breathing heavily after his conquest, he withdrew his cock, dripping with bright red blood. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding.”
“I told you I wasn’t healed. Take me to the hospital. I could bleed to death.”
“No! No doctors. I’ll take care of it.” He ran into the bathroom and came back with towels to catch the blood. The bedspread was already soaked with a sticky scarlet mass.
Cass rolled over on her side in pain and holding a towel between her legs. “Eddie, please take me to the hospital right now. It hurts so bad,” she pleaded in a frightened voice. Her eyes were glassy and her body began to shake. “Please hurry. I think I’m going to faint.”
Eddie cleaned himself up and dressed quickly, then helped Cass pull on her slacks with a towel stuffed in the crotch.
“Okay, we’re going to the emergency room in Sabine County. It’s not too far from here.”
Panic had taken over. Eddie scooped Cass up in his arms and carried her down the stairs and sat her in his car. He sped out of the driveway laying down black tire marks all the way to the gravel road. The classic car fishtailed on the gravel, kicking up dust and dirt.
Cass groaned painfully, took deep breaths, and tried to remain conscious. Her whole body hurt from his rough treatment.
A Deputy Sheriff was parked behind a big Dairy Queen sign on the farm-to-market road and hit his siren when Eddie flew by. He caught up to the silver Mercedes and pulled him over.
“What’s your hurry, son?” he asked as he strolled up to Eddie’s lowered window.
Before he could ask for driver’s license and registration Eddie began yammering, “I’m on the way to the emergency room—she’s bleeding to death!” He raised a blood-soaked towel to convince the officer he was telling the truth.
“Ma’am, are you in pain?”
“Yes, I’ve had a miscarriage and need to get to the hospital quickly, Officer.” Her voice was fading.
“Okay, young fella, stay close behind me, I’ll give you an escort. I know you won’t have any trouble keeping up with what you’re driving.”
The police cruiser’s lights flashed and its siren wailed as the two vehicles raced down the narrow road toward Sabine County Memorial Hospital. The officer radioed ahead that they were coming with a woman who had a miscarriage. As soon as they pulled up to the emergency entrance, a nurse met them with a wheelchair. She was quickly wheeled into in one of the vacant emergency bays. Eddie had to wait outside while Cass was stripped of her bloody clothes and fitted with an oxygen nose clip and a heart monitor. Nurses worked feverishly to clean her up and gave her a
ntibiotics and a shot to calm her down.
“I hope your wife’s going to be all right, son. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you, Officer, I appreciate your help,” Eddie responded. His panic had subsided a little and he played along, enjoying the idea that the officer thought Cass was his wife.
The deputy pulled a little black notebook from his pocket and approached Eddie. “I’ll need to ask a few questions, before I go. What is your full name, address, telephone number, and occupation? It’s standard procedure for my report.”
Eddie froze. He motioned the office off to a corner of the room where they couldn’t be overheard. “Officer,” he said, almost in a whisper, “I need to ask you a really big favor. You see, we aren’t married yet and her family would really be upset if they found out she was pregnant and had a miscarriage before we get married next month. They are very strict Catholics. You see the position I’m in? Do you think you could, maybe, lose that report before you get back to your office? You could save me from being run out of town, or worse, by her father and three brothers. I really would appreciate it.” Eddie pulled a roll of fifty-dollar bills from his pocket. “Let me show you my appreciation.”
“I don’t know, son. What you’re askin’ me to do violates our official procedures.”
Eddie peeled off several bills. “Tell me when to stop.”
“Uh . . . I think that will be plenty,” he said, pointing to the stack of bills in Eddie’s hand. “Don’t get the idea that I normally do this. I’ve never done anything against regulations before, but you two look like a nice young couple and I’d like to see you get off on the right foot.” The deputy took the money and walked away. “Have a good day now, you hear,” he called as he left.
Chapter 42
End of the line
Nearly a half-hour passed before Eddie was allowed in to see Cass. She was dressed in a hospital gown while her heart monitor beeped a steady sixty beats a minute.